1. Field
Embodiments of the present general inventive concept relate to a source driver, and more particularly, to a source driver capable of muxing data by using clock signals each having a different timing, an operation method thereof, and apparatuses having the same. Embodiments of the present general inventive concept also relate to a display device, and more particularly, to a source driver which may use a plurality of dot inversion modes, and a display device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A source driver or a data line driver converts a digital signal corresponding to image data to display into an analog signal and provides a converted analog signal to a pixel of a display panel so that the image data may be displayed.
To prevent performance deterioration of a liquid crystal display (LCD), e.g., a crosstalk phenomenon or a flicker, a general source driver inverts polarity of an analog signal supplied to a pixel in every frame. This is called polarity inversion driving.
The polarity inversion driving modes includes a frame inversion mode, a column inversion mode, a line inversion mode and a dot inversion mode.
In the frame inversion mode, polarity of analog signals supplied to pixels in one frame is all the same. In the column inversion mode, polarity of analog signals supplied to adjacent pixels in a column is different from each other. In the line inversion mode, polarity of analog signals supplied to adjacent pixels in a line is different from each other.
The dot inversion mode includes a one-DOT inversion mode, where polarity of analog signals supplied to adjacent pixels is different from each other, and an n-DOT inversion mode, where polarity of analog signals supplied to n adjacent pixels, where n is a natural number greater than one, is the same as each other and polarity of analog signals supplied to the n pixels is different from polarity of analog signals supplied to pixels adjacent to the n pixels.
Among the polarity inversion driving modes, there is least crosstalk phenomenon in the dot inversion mode. It is therefore widely used in large-sized displays and mobile displays.
A source driver may include a digital-to-analog conversion circuit, which includes a P-type decoder (or a P-type digital-to-analog converter) and an N-type decoder (or an N-type digital-to-analog converter) to embody the dot inversion mode.
To reduce the complexity of a circuit and the size of a chip in a conventional source driver, adjacent channels may share a digital-to-analog conversion circuit. To be more concrete, the conventional source driver may be improved to reduce the complexity of a digital-to-analog conversion circuit and the size of a chip by exchanging a digital signal, i.e., data, between adjacent channels in response to a polarity control signal, converting each of the exchanged data into analog signals, and exchanging analog signals with each other again.
Further improvements to the conventional source driver could include additional multiplexers to operate in different dot inversion modes. The complexity of the source driver and the size of a chip, however, may increase in proportion to the number of the multiplexers.